Preening, Moulting

Nigalius

Madras
Regular Member
Hi... I have looked through other posts in this subject to see if my questions had been answered elswhere but cant find anything.

In the last few weeks Jasper has really come out of his shell, he is now very willing to come out of the cage and if I go toward the cage at all he will readily fly to me usually on my shoulder and just goes about with me. When he is not on me he will sit on a perch that I have screwed to the outsde of the cage now and again climbing inside to eat or drink or just climb ontop. He spends a lot of time preening, or that is what I guess he is doing. That leads to my first question... When he does this to his chest feathers or some under the wings he just seems to ruffle them up, when doing it to the wings the beak starts at thetop of the feather and like runs it down to the tip continually. Does this sound like preening? I am asking as I hope it is not a sign of itching.

The other thing I would like to find out about is Moulting... I dont know if Jasper has had a moult yet... How can I tell. That sounds silly I know but I have only in the 8 months I have had him ever found 2 red feathers in the cage, one main wing feather and about 4 or 5 minor wing feathers (sorry I dont know the correct names). So what I would like to know is, How many times in a year can I expect a moult, Will each feather drop out in a moult, Do all the feathers that come out in a moult get replaced,

He is much more confident in his flying now and if he for instance flies to my arm I dont know if I can explain this properly, just before landing he kind of hovers for a second, just preparing to land. He does do something that seems strange though, sometimes he will stand on the cage and grip strongly with his feet and flap the wings strongly. This will last 2 or 3 seconds and might happen 4 or 5 times. Is this normal.

I dont want to waffle on any more so better finish now and hope someone might be able to educate me.

Cheers

Nigel
 
Hello Nigel,

Your birds sounds quite normal and healthy.  The normal preening action involves the birds feeling each flight featrher with its tongue as it checks for any foriegn bodies, mainly along the feather shaft. 

Moulting takes about 6 to 8 months in greys.  It typically starts once the bird is a year old; and/or in the Autumn, and is completed (or ceases temporarily if incomplete) in May.  *Body* feathers can be replaced erratically, down feathers are replaced continually; but flight feather and tail moult is more systematic.   Feather growth rate is about 4mm per day; so it takes about 6 weeks to grow a primary feather; 4 weeks to grow a tail feather.  When *not* moulting, the bird will have 10 primaries and 12 secondaries one each wing.  He may moult 2, rarely three flight feathers on each wing at a time.  You can check his progress by opening each wing and counting the flight feathers; the primaries are attached to the 'hand', past the wrist joint; the secondaries are attached to the lower 'arm' bones (ulnar).   The full set of tail feathers is 12; he may moult two of these at a time. 

Make sure to spray him with water, so he is drenched, several times per week to maintain good feather condition and supply calcium and vitamin D3 supplement. 

The static flapping is his desire/need to take exercise; a bit like us jogging on the spot it is common in caged birds but probably does not occur in wild birds as they fly hundreds of miles every week and get plenty of such exercise. 

All the best!
 
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Thanks for that info Greg. I must admit I was puzzled about the static flapping but now, it makes sense. He is out of the cage for several hours a day now so perhaps he will not do that too much. Yesterday was the first time for a while now.

He gets his vitamin D from 2 scources, a UVA/UVB light and a liquid put in the water bowl every time and he also has a limited amount of good pellets each day.

Cheers

Nigel
 
Yes it all sounds familiar to what I see my two doing.

Flint doesn't do much of the holding on and flapping but I notice that Kipp does it when he wants to go somewhere but is scared - he will stand on the top of his cage and have a good flap then shout in frustration because he is scared to go to wherever he wants to. (Normally he is not scared but if I've moved furniture or something and when he first came to stay with us I notice him do it more).

I love watching him do that as he looks really lovely with his chest all puffed out - very strong and graceful!
 
Your little one sounds normal to me. Healthy birds spend alot ,alot of time preening their feathers so that they are ready for flight. :thumbsup:
 
I have noticed yesterday that there are 2 tail feathers missing, I did find them in the cage and when he flies I can see the gap as the two appear to be next to each other. But, they dont appear to be affecting flight at all which seems confident. Since Jaspers flying has been much better the longest wing feathers have looked a lot tidier as well.
 
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